The Zinn Reader

The Zinn Reader, Howard Zinn, Seven Stories Press, 1997

        Howard Zinn is a political science professor at Boston University who grew up in the immigrant slums of Brooklyn. Author of the famous "People's History of the United States," Zinn has spent his life looking at things from the point of view of those on the bottom. Here is a collection of his writings over the past generation.

        His eyewitness accounts of the sit-ins and marches of the Civil Rights days as someone on the inside is, by itself, worth the price of the book. Zinn then goes on to mention that during World War II, which he spent as a bombardier in France, the US government knew about Hitler's plans for the Jews, and did nothing. During the Vietnam War, there was a shift in opinion among juries picked to hear anti-war civil disobedience cases. In the early days, a guilty verdict was practically assured; as people got a better idea of what was really happening in Vietnam, more and more not guilty verdicts were returned. Zinn also contributes several essays about prison in America, having seen it from the inside as an anti-war protester.

        This book is beyond excellent. It's been a long time since I could call a book an eye-opener; this is an eye-opener. Along with People's History of the United States, this book belongs in every high school and college history class in America.